Various devices or apparatuses can benefit from precisely formed surfaces. For example, precision optical devices often incorporate reflective surfaces or mirrors, which are typically required to have a precise shape or figure. Conventional processes for producing mirrors include laborious and time consuming precision grinding and polishing of the mirror surface. The cost of producing mirrors using conventional grinding and polishing techniques increases with the size of the mirror. In addition to being relatively expensive, grinding and polishing to produce a mirror is time consuming, and does not lend itself to mass production of precision mirrors. For mass production of mirrors, replicated optics techniques can be used. However, the precision of mirrors produced using replicated optics is limited, and the shape produced is fixed.
More recently, mirrors have been produced that operate under active control. For example, electrostatically controlled membrane mirrors (ECMM) have been developed. An ECMM design utilizes flexible polymer films with reflective coating to create a commanded mirror-figure. Active control of the figure of the mirror is used as a substitute for a fixed mirror surface in providing precision optical characteristics. ECMM type devices can facilitate the deployment of relatively large, relatively lightweight mirrors. However, the requirement that the mirror surface be under constant active control while in use adds to the complexity and to the power requirements of the ECMM systems.